Thursday, March 19, 2026
BassBass Guitar

The Greatest RATM bass line was SLAPPED?


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There’s no denying the immense power of Rage Against The Machine. The rap-metal quartet’s finest hour was probably their 1991 self-titled debut album, a highlight of which was Take The Power Back. A masterclass in slap bass, it’s the opening riff that qualifies the song for immortality!

In today’s video we’re showing you how to recreate Tim Commerford’s jaw-dropping bass line – complete with performance notes, a free PDF workbook and explanations on how Tim dialed in his Music Man StingRay to give the song an extra rhythmic edge.

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Video Breakdown:

00:00 – Introduction
01:18 – The StingRay Sound
02:36 – Tim’s StingRay Journey
03:10 – The Tone
05:49 – Verse Bass Line
07:11 – Chorus Bass Line
09:21 – Summary

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#bassguitarlessons #rageagainstthemachine #TimCommerford

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#Greatest #RATM #bass #line #SLAPPED

Originally posted by UCWTj3vCqkQIsrTGSm4kM34g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH4_GS58Pts

21 thoughts on “The Greatest RATM bass line was SLAPPED?

  • The reason he didn't slap any other lines.. because they didn't want to get maligned with the Red Hot Chillis

    Reply
  • I remember back in days that tone and intro of Bass line was mind blowing. For me RATM was discovered after Audioslave cuz these guys sounds amazing those days so i dig in deeper then found RATM which is killer sounding band with same 3 members.

    Love Tim Commerford, Scott and lately Ian is getting interesting with all the words and skills of you. you guys are all my inspiration in Bass Journey.

    Reply
  • Use a SWR SM900 ,,SWR 4X10..AND SWR 15

    FOR THE FIRST RAGE RECORD…DIDNT USE AMPEG WICH WAS A SVIIP AMPEG PREAMP INTO A SWR 800 STEREO PwrAMP ,,94 95 ISH, THEN HE WENT TO FULL AMPEG..RESEARCH MY FRIENDS RESEARCH..OH AND OF COURSE MARSHAL GUVNOR PEDAL

    Reply
  • you know instead of hammering onto the 5th fret of the a string you could just pull off the 3rd fret of the d string. Make it a bit easier.

    Reply
  • That finger attack, swinging all the way through the strings, is also the way to get Geddy Lee's sound. (among many others)

    Reply
  • The first time I heard this my room exploded. I was milking the end of my grunge life and then these guys arrived on a spaceship from an angry burning planet.

    Reply
  • What a band, what an album!!! Tim's bass, Zac's vocals, Tom's insane riffs.

    Reply
  • I just love these series, they're awesome. Hope to see The Genius of John Myung some day soon

    Reply
  • i gotta know about the glove, i knew a jazz dude who wore jewlers gloves so u couldn’t hear string slide on overdriven amp

    Reply

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